2011The European Environment Agency has designated Spain's Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) to take a lead role in reinforcing the Agency's work on land degradation.1002011-04-13T19:55:22ZFalseProducts.EEAContentTypes.interfaces.IEEAPossibleContentAccessControl.interfaces.IRoleManagerApp.interfaces.INavigationplone.app.folder.folder.IATUnifiedFolderProducts.ATContentTypes.interfaces.interfaces.IATContentTypeProducts.CMFPlone.interfaces.constrains.ISelectableConstrainTypesProducts.Archetypes.interfaces.base.IBaseFolderOFS.interfaces.ISimpleItempersistent.interfaces.IPersistentProducts.EEAContentTypes.migrate.interfaces.IContentToMigratewebdav.EtagSupport.EtagBaseInterfaceProducts.EEAContentTypes.content.interfaces.IExternalHighlightplone.portlets.interfaces.ILocalPortletAssignableApp.interfaces.IUndoSupportwebdav.interfaces.IDAVResourceAccessControl.interfaces.IPermissionMappingSupportOFS.interfaces.IPropertyManagereea.alchemy.interfaces.IAlchemyDiscoverableProducts.Archetypes.interfaces.referenceable.IReferenceablewebdav.interfaces.IWriteLockProducts.ATContentTypes.interfaces.interfaces.IHistoryAwareeea.cache.subtypes.interfaces.ICacheAwareeea.uberlisting.browser.app.interfaces.IPossibleUberlistingVieweea.geotags.storage.interfaces.IGeoTaggableplone.folder.interfaces.IOrderableFolderplone.uuid.interfaces.IUUIDAwareeea.pdf.subtypes.interfaces.ICollectionPDFAwareAcquisition.interfaces.IAcquirerProducts.Archetypes.interfaces.metadata.IExtensibleMetadataplone.app.imaging.interfaces.IBaseObjectProducts.CMFCore.interfaces._content.IWorkflowAwareProducts.ATContentTypes.interfaces.news.IATNewsItemeea.pdf.subtypes.interfaces.IPDFAwareplone.locking.interfaces.ITTWLockableProducts.CMFCore.interfaces._content.IDynamicTypeProducts.EEAContentTypes.interfaces.IEEAContentOFS.interfaces.ICopyContainereea.themecentre.interfaces.IThemeTaggableOFS.interfaces.ITraversableOFS.interfaces.IFindSupportProducts.ATContentTypes.interfaces.folder.IATBTreeFoldereea.epub.interfaces.IExportableProducts.CMFCore.interfaces._content.IContentisharchetypes.schemaextender.interfaces.IExtensiblecollective.quickupload.interfaces.IQuickUploadCapableOFS.interfaces.IOrderedContainerOFS.interfaces.IObjectManagereea.versions.interfaces.IVersionEnhancedzope.annotation.interfaces.IAttributeAnnotatableProducts.CMFCore.interfaces._content.IMutableMinimalDublinCoreProducts.NavigationManager.sections.interfaces.INavigationSectionPositionableeea.annotator.subtypes.interfaces.IAnnotatorAwareOFS.interfaces.IItemeea.progressbar.interfaces.IBaseObjecteea.facetednavigation.subtypes.interfaces.IPossibleFacetedNavigableProducts.Archetypes.interfaces.athistoryaware.IATHistoryAwareeea.promotion.interfaces.IPromotableeea.reports.interfaces.IPossibleReportContainerwebdav.interfaces.IDAVCollectionOFS.interfaces.IFolderOFS.interfaces.ICopySourceProducts.LinguaPlone.interfaces.ITranslatableplone.app.folder.bbb.IArchivableProducts.CMFDynamicViewFTI.interfaces.ISelectableBrowserDefaultProducts.CMFCore.interfaces._content.ICatalogAwareeea.themecentre.interfaces.IPossibleThemeCentreProducts.Archetypes.interfaces.base.IBaseContenteea.workflow.interfaces.IHasMandatoryWorkflowFieldsplone.contentrules.engine.interfaces.IRuleAssignableAccessControl.interfaces.IOwnedeea.relations.content.interfaces.IBaseObjectplone.app.folder.bbb.IPhotoAlbumAbleeea.epub.subtypes.interfaces.IEPUBAwareeea.faceted.inheritance.subtypes.interfaces.IPossibleFacetedHeritorApp.interfaces.IPersistentExtraProducts.CMFCore.interfaces._content.IFolderishProducts.CMFCore.interfaces._content.IOpaqueItemManagerplone.app.iterate.interfaces.IIterateAwareProducts.Archetypes.interfaces.base.IBaseObjectFalsemiddlenews20010322-ennews20010322-en Spanish university to lead work for EEA on land use and degradation The European Environment Agency has designated Spain's Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) to take a lead role in reinforcing the Agency's work on land degradation.
NEWS RELEASE Copenhagen,
22 March 2001
Spanish university to lead work for EEA on land use
and degradation
The European Environment Agency has designated
Spain's Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) to take a lead role in
reinforcing the Agency's work on land degradation, a growing obstacle
to sustainable development in Europe, and other land-related
issues.
The EEA's Management Board decided at its meeting
on 20 March to designate a consortium headed by UAB, a renowned centre
of excellence in ecological sciences, as leader of the Agency's new
European Topic Centre on terrestrial environment.
European Topic Centres are consortia of institutes
or organisations with particular expertise that operate as extensions
of the EEA by undertaking work in specific areas on a contractual
basis.
The decision completes the designation of the lead
organisations of the five new Topic Centres that will support the EEA's
work over the next three years. The Management Board also ratified
contracts with the lead organisations of the four other new Topic
Centres, which will cover water, air and climate change, nature and
biodiversity, and waste and material flows. 1
"The systematic abuse of Europe's land, soil and
natural resources is becoming ever more apparent and is likely to
worsen unless resolute action is taken to reverse it. This decision
will allow the Agency to strengthen its work in this field and help
create a more solid basis for policy responses," commented Domingo
Jiménez-Beltrán, the EEA's Executive Director.
The EEA and the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) joined forces in a recent report 2
to warn that the degradation of Europe's land resources would continue
and even accelerate in the absence of prompt action. Land use is one of
the six priority themes of the EU strategy on sustainable development
that the European Commission will shortly unveil.
The appointment of UAB follows a
competitive tendering procedure in which two other consortia also
presented proposals.
The three bids were evaluated by a
seven-member committee comprising representatives of the EEA, the EEA's
Scientific Committee, the European Commission's Directorate-General for
Environment, the EU's Joint Research Centre and Eurostat, the
Commission's statistics office. Two further members of the Scientific
Committee provided input to the selection process.
The evaluation committee concluded that
the UAB consortium's proposal was the strongest of the three. The
committee's recommendation that the UAB consortium should be designated
to lead the Topic Centre was approved by a more than two-thirds
majority of the EEA's Management Board. The representatives of Austria,
Germany, Italy and Luxembourg voted against the
decision.
The UAB consortium will be required to
improve aspects of its programme concerning soil, contaminated land and
data management before starting.
UAB will work with seven partner
organisations from the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary,
Romania and Spain. 3 The inclusion of
organisations from three central and eastern European countries
represents a further step towards integrating these states into the
EEA's work programme as they become members of the
Agency.
The Topic Centre will focus on the issues of land
cover and use, soils and coastal zones. It will pay particular
attention to the most fragile ecosystems, which include coastal zones
and mountain areas.
One of the new Topic Centre's first tasks will be
to assure quality control of a 10 million EUR project to update
detailed satellite photographs of Europe's land cover and then to build
on these in its work.
The terrestrial environment Topic Centre will
innovate by developing an approach to monitoring and assessing the
environment based on ecological regions instead of national or
administrative boundaries. This will allow the EEA to link
environmental information to specific geographical regions or units,
such as river basins, mountain ecosystems or urban areas.
In the longer term this approach will enable the
Agency to develop a Geographic Information System for conducting fully
integrated assessments in which environmental parameters such as air
emissions, water quality, soil erosion and biodiversity will be shown
and interpreted in their geographical context.
The Topic Centre on terrestrial environment will be
responsible for providing guidance on this spatially-driven approach to
the four other Topic Centres.
The number of Topic Centres is being reduced from a
total of nine in the past, a change that should facilitate a more
integrated approach to their issues. The new Topic Centres are due to
start work this spring.
Notes to Editors
The European Environment Agency aims to support
sustainable development and to help achieve significant and measurable
improvement in Europe's environment through the provision of timely,
targeted, relevant and reliable information to policy making agents and
the public. The Agency is the hub of the European Environment
Information and Observation Network (EIONET), a network of
environmental bodies and institutes across Europe.
Created by the European Union (EU) in 1993 and
located in Copenhagen, the EEA is open to all countries that share its
objectives and are able to participate in its activities. It currently
has 18 member countries - the 15 EU member states, plus Iceland, Norway
and Liechtenstein, which are members of the European Free Trade
Association (EFTA). The 13 countries in central and eastern Europe and
the Mediterranean area that are seeking accession to the EU are
expected to join the EEA in the coming months, making the Agency the
first EU body to welcome these countries.
1 The lead organisations of the
other new Topic Centres are as follows:
Water: WRc plc , UK
Air and climate change: National Institute for Public Health and
Environment (RIVM) , the Netherlands
Nature protection and
biodiversity: National Museum of Natural History ( Muséum national d'histoire naturelle ),
Paris, France
Waste and material flows: Danish Environmental Protection
Agency /City of Copenhagen.
2 Down
to earth: Soil degradation and sustainable development in Europe. A
challenge for the 21 st century .
3 The partner organisations
are:
Danube Delta National Institute (DDNI),
Romania
Institute of
Geodesy, Cartography and Remote Sensing (FÖMI) , Hungary
GISAT
Geoinformation, Czech Republic
Geological Survey of
Finland (GTK)
French Institute for
the Environment (IFEN - Institut français de l'environnement)
National Geographical
Institute (IGN - Institut géographique national), France
Council for Environmental Protection, Andalucia,
Spain.
Spanish university to lead work for EEA on land use and degradationNEWS RELEASE Copenhagen,
22 March 2001

Spanish university to lead work for EEA on land use
and degradation

The European Environment Agency has designated
Spain's Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) to take a lead role in
reinforcing the Agency's work on land degradation, a growing obstacle
to sustainable development in Europe, and other land-related
issues.

The EEA's Management Board decided at its meeting
on 20 March to designate a consortium headed by UAB, a renowned centre
of excellence in ecological sciences, as leader of the Agency's new
European Topic Centre on terrestrial environment.

European Topic Centres are consortia of institutes
or organisations with particular expertise that operate as extensions
of the EEA by undertaking work in specific areas on a contractual
basis.

The decision completes the designation of the lead
organisations of the five new Topic Centres that will support the EEA's
work over the next three years. The Management Board also ratified
contracts with the lead organisations of the four other new Topic
Centres, which will cover water, air and climate change, nature and
biodiversity, and waste and material flows.1

"The systematic abuse of Europe's land, soil and
natural resources is becoming ever more apparent and is likely to
worsen unless resolute action is taken to reverse it. This decision
will allow the Agency to strengthen its work in this field and help
create a more solid basis for policy responses," commented Domingo
Jiménez-Beltrán, the EEA's Executive Director.

The EEA and the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) joined forces in a recent report2
to warn that the degradation of Europe's land resources would continue
and even accelerate in the absence of prompt action. Land use is one of
the six priority themes of the EU strategy on sustainable development
that the European Commission will shortly unveil.

The appointment of UAB follows a
competitive tendering procedure in which two other consortia also
presented proposals.

The three bids were evaluated by a
seven-member committee comprising representatives of the EEA, the EEA's
Scientific Committee, the European Commission's Directorate-General for
Environment, the EU's Joint Research Centre and Eurostat, the
Commission's statistics office. Two further members of the Scientific
Committee provided input to the selection process.

The evaluation committee concluded that
the UAB consortium's proposal was the strongest of the three. The
committee's recommendation that the UAB consortium should be designated
to lead the Topic Centre was approved by a more than two-thirds
majority of the EEA's Management Board. The representatives of Austria,
Germany, Italy and Luxembourg voted against the
decision.

The UAB consortium will be required to
improve aspects of its programme concerning soil, contaminated land and
data management before starting.

UAB will work with seven partner
organisations from the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary,
Romania and Spain.3 The inclusion of
organisations from three central and eastern European countries
represents a further step towards integrating these states into the
EEA's work programme as they become members of the
Agency.

The Topic Centre will focus on the issues of land
cover and use, soils and coastal zones. It will pay particular
attention to the most fragile ecosystems, which include coastal zones
and mountain areas.

One of the new Topic Centre's first tasks will be
to assure quality control of a 10 million EUR project to update
detailed satellite photographs of Europe's land cover and then to build
on these in its work.

The terrestrial environment Topic Centre will
innovate by developing an approach to monitoring and assessing the
environment based on ecological regions instead of national or
administrative boundaries. This will allow the EEA to link
environmental information to specific geographical regions or units,
such as river basins, mountain ecosystems or urban areas.

In the longer term this approach will enable the
Agency to develop a Geographic Information System for conducting fully
integrated assessments in which environmental parameters such as air
emissions, water quality, soil erosion and biodiversity will be shown
and interpreted in their geographical context.

The Topic Centre on terrestrial environment will be
responsible for providing guidance on this spatially-driven approach to
the four other Topic Centres.

The number of Topic Centres is being reduced from a
total of nine in the past, a change that should facilitate a more
integrated approach to their issues. The new Topic Centres are due to
start work this spring.

Notes to Editors

The European Environment Agency aims to support
sustainable development and to help achieve significant and measurable
improvement in Europe's environment through the provision of timely,
targeted, relevant and reliable information to policy making agents and
the public. The Agency is the hub of the European Environment
Information and Observation Network (EIONET), a network of
environmental bodies and institutes across Europe.

Created by the European Union (EU) in 1993 and
located in Copenhagen, the EEA is open to all countries that share its
objectives and are able to participate in its activities. It currently
has 18 member countries - the 15 EU member states, plus Iceland, Norway
and Liechtenstein, which are members of the European Free Trade
Association (EFTA). The 13 countries in central and eastern Europe and
the Mediterranean area that are seeking accession to the EU are
expected to join the EEA in the coming months, making the Agency the
first EU body to welcome these countries.

1The lead organisations of the
other new Topic Centres are as follows:

]]>2001-03-21T23:00:00ZThe European Environment Agency has designated Spain's Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) to take a lead role in reinforcing the Agency's work on land degradation.2001-03-21T23:00:00Zadmin